MINI Rocketman Electric Will See Production in 2022

A common joke these days is that a Mini can be anything but mini. Market demands made the model grow, receive two additional doors, become a coupé, a roadster, and even SUVs. The mini part of Mini was missing until the Rocketman concept appeared in 2011. But the business case never made sense until now.

The German carmaker made a joint-venture with the Chinese company exactly one year ago this Wednesday (10) – call that a coincidence. Named Spotlight Automotive, the joint-venture has the goal of producing Mini electric vehicles in China. We just did not imagine the new tiny Mini was among them at that time.

The production Rocketman will be mostly based on Ora R1’s electric platform. The Chinese electric car is 137.6 inches (3.50 m) long, 65.4 in (1.66 m) wide, 61.4 in (1.56 m) tall and has a 97.4 in (2.48 m) wheelbase, more or less the same dimensions the Rocketman presented.

If the R1 is a good reference for us to anticipate what the mini Mini will offer, it will probably offer a 33 kWh battery pack that offers an NEDC range of 194 miles. More than the recently released Mini Cooper SE, which has a 32.6 kWh pack that provides a 167.7 mi NEDC range. At best.